One of the best ways to solve your snacking woes is to create a snack box for your refrigerator. Uncontrolled snacking is one of the top reasons why people continually have trouble losing weight and are unable to get in shape. Not only is this due to the types/amounts of snack choices made on a regular basis, but also the fact that numerous snacking instances arise on a day-to-day basis which means each moment presents the opportunity to overeat.
Think about your own personal snacking habits. Are they usually healthy instances beneficial for weight loss or nutritional disasters that leave you feeling stuffed and bloated afterwards?
If you are not prepared to handle moments when hunger cravings kick-in, then you’ll likely end up putting far too many calories into your body.
Let’s change that around for good!
One of the best ways to solve your snacking woes is to make a snack box for your fridge. Plain and simple, a snack box is any type of container you put inside your refrigerator to store your pre-portioned snacks that you prepare ahead of time so they’re always ready to go. Having this handy at all times means that in between your main meals you will easily be able to open your refrigerator door and get a nutritious yet satisfying snack.
Plus, with this snack box stocked at all times, you can easily grab a couple and toss them in your lunch bag before heading out for work in the morning.
Say goodbye to vending machine and fast food trips if you stick with this healthy habit!
However before you can make your own snack box, you need to decide what type of snacks you want to have. Once you create your snack list, you can then go to the supermarket and purchase all the items you’ll need to prepare your very own snack box.
In order to not leave you hanging on the ledge without any help, here’s a list of the snacks we put in our snack box. Actually, we made two separate boxes (one for him and her) which was great in order to play to each others preferences.
– hummus with homemade pita chips
– carrots with lite ranch
– a Bagel Thin w/ 1.5 oz yogurt cream cheese
– celery sticks w/ 1.5 oz peanut butter
– yogurt with granola
– almonds with raisins
– cottage cheese with blueberries/raspberries
– white cheddar rice cakes
A few items that really come in handy when making a snack box are small/medium Ziploc plastic bags, a permanent marker, and various sizes of plastic containers.
Small mini 4 oz. (1/2 cup) containers work wonders to hold appropriate amounts of granola, fruit, almonds, raisins, yogurt cream cheese, etc. They are large enough for the snacks yet still fit in Zip loc bags that will be placed in the snack box. This is important to keep food items separate until they are eaten since you likely wouldn’t want granola rubbing up all over the outside of a yogurt container. Who knows where that container has been.
In regards to the actual box to keep in your refrigerator, practically any type of basket/plastic container can be used. It all depends on how much space you have or what area(s) might work for your snack box storage spot. If you don’t have the space for an actual basket, then just devote a particular bag (clean) and keep all your individually bagged snacks in the larger bag. Keeping your snacks in this manner may allow you to tuck them into a tight corner or space.
Again, it all depends on the space you have in your refrigerator.
With your list of foods you purchase from the market you will be well on your way to creating your own personal refrigerator snack box where you will be able to turn for healthy, delicious munchies.
Remember, snacks don’t have to be dull and boring. All the snacks mentioned above hover around, or sometimes under, the 200 calorie count. When you tie one with a 20+ ounce bottle/glass of water, you have the perfect way to quickly quench a growing appetite without turning the snacking instance into a caloric nightmare.
Try making your own on a Sunday afternoon/evening so your week can start (and hopefully end) on a healthy note. You may really come to love your refrigerator snack box once you start the habit and stick with it consistently.